Outrageous Kid Parties: Mom blows $32,000 on daughter’s 6th birthday

America is the land of great extremes, especially when it comes to children’s birthday parties.

You have parents throwing unpretentious, humble, back-to-the-basics birthday parties (with a holier-than-thou undertone) in places such as Brooklyn, N.Y., Berkeley, Calif., and Portland, Ore. Invitations are paperless Evites. Cakes are made with eggs from the backyard chickens. And the guests’ party favors are star-shaped crayons made from recycled Crayolas by a mom who sells green goodie bag items on Etsy.

And then you have the extravagant birthday balls featured on TLC’s new show Outrageous Kid Parties, which premiered earlier this week. The show documents middle-class parents as they go above and beyond their means to spoil their little darlings with over-the-top celebrations. The series features four 30-minute episodes.

The first episode follows a 45-year-old mother named Nicole who spends a staggering $32,000 on her daughter’s sixth birthday (because 6 is such an important milestone and calls for a $2,100 nine-tier cake).

Nicole orders up a fairy tale fantasy party because Gracie “is still in that prime age where she believes in fairy tales.”

On her special day, Gracie steps out of a horse-drawn Cinderella carriage wearing a full-length satin gown. She’s greeted by jesters, a prince, a fairy godmother and some 200 cheering guests. Watch the video below for a taste of the tackiness, er, extravagance.

In the clip below, Nicole boasts about spending $3,000 on invitations designed to look like medieval scrolls. She bribes Gracie’s older brother, Parker, with $100 to put on a jester costume and hand-deliver 200 invitations. Parker knocks on doors calling out, “Hear ye, hear ye!”

In this clip, Nicole meets with a party planner to go over the $15,000 budget although she ends up spending twice as much. In the actual show Nicole tries to hide the amount from her husband.

Speaking of the father, what does he have to say about all of this? “This is not a normal party,” Jason says. Thankfully there is at least one voice of reason in Outrageous Kid Parties.

Is Outrageous Kid Parties outrageous?

Are you a fan of shows that nearly spur cardiac arrest with appalling tales of everyday people’s outrageous exploits? Read up on Toddlers & Tiaras. The episode in which a 5-year-old screams in horror while getting her eyebrows waxed might even put you in a coma.